The Blue Jays Are No Longer Undefeated In 2018

It was fun while it lasted. The Blue Jays got dropped by the Tigers this afternoon in their second spring training tuneup game. They’re now 1-1 in 2018.

Things worth mentioning…

Chris Rowley got the start for the Jays today and had himself a rough time. In the first inning, he walked Jose Iglesias and allowed a single to Miguel Cabrera then Nick Castellanos hit a little league home run as Richard Urena booted the throw to third. He allowed one more run on a double and a single in the second inning and ultimately went one-and-one-third surrendering four runs, three earned, on four hits and a walk.

After that, though, Toronto pretty much slammed the door on the Tigers. The relief pitchers combined to go six-and-two-thirds while allowing just one earned run.

Danny Barnes pitched a clean inning, Deck McGuire worked around a hit batter and a bunt single for a clean inning to kick off his revenge tour, and Chad Girodo and Jordan Romano each tossed scoreless frames. Carlos Ramirez allowed a solo bomb to give the Tigers their fifth run of the game. Taylor Guerrieri also picked up three ground ball outs on five pitches. He’ll be an interesting name to follow as a possible bullpen option.

Kendrys Morales had a nice day at the plate in his 2018 debut. In his first at bat, he worked the count before smashing a double off of Jordan Zimmermann. In his next time up, Morales hit a single off of uhhhhh Daniel Stumpf.

Anthony Alford pinch ran for Morales after that single. Dalton Pompey took a walk to push him to second and then Danny Jansen singled him home for his first RBI of 2018. The future! It’s bright!

Otherwise, there wasn’t much to talk about offensively. Zeke Carrera went zero-for-three, Steve Pearce went zero-for-two but had an RBI, Rowdy Tellez and Richard Urena were both hitless in two at bats, and Lourdes Gurriel had one hit in three trips.

Also from today, here are nice clips of Bo Bichette and Vlady Jr. smashing baseballs: